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28DL Full Member

This was visited with the permission of University Hospitals Birmingham and Coleman & Company Ltd (demolition crew).

Work has already started to reduce the site to a handful of original buildings, demolishing the rest and converting the few remaining into a new housing scheme.

I was given a guided chance to photograph as many buildings I could access (some are still in use as offices and some buildings are used for training) so I could provide a permanent archive of pictures for people to view what the site once looked like. The full set, over 300 images can be found here: www.photoaddiction.co.uk

There is a big history section on my website, but here are some extracts...

Selly Oak Hospital on Raddlebarn Road (formerly called Workhouse Lane) first started life as Kingâ€™s Norton Union Workhouse in 1872. The workhouse was built to accommodate 200 paupers by combining many smaller workhouses in the area and was built as part of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834.
.....
Parliament Acts ruled that children and mentally ill inmates should be accommodated in separate infirmary blocks usually located next door to the workhouse.
.....
In 1897 Selly Oaks Infirmary Blocks (now the main day centre building) were built at a cost of Â£52,000 (Â£34,000 over budget). It was light and clean but the walls were painted brick and not plastered as it was considered that painted brick was good enough for paupers.

(fast forward several decades)

Attitudes changed towards poverty and the introduction of National Insurance and the old age pensions were brought in before WW1. By 1930 the Poor Law was finally dismantled. Selly Oak Hospital and the workhouse was renamed to Selly Oak House and was now run by Birmingham City Council.
.....
Selly Oak Hospital continued to improve, in 1931 new operating theatres were added and the biochemistry and pathology laboratories opened in 1934.
.....
In 1963 the Out-Patients Department was built.
.....
In 1997 University Hospital Birmingham (UHB) Foundation Trust was formed and Selly Oak Hospital joined with the Queen Elizabeth.
.....
In 2002 the Centre for Defence Medicine was given approval and the hospital was used as the main treatment centre for military casualties from Afghanistan and Iraq.
.....
The final phase in the hospital's history began on Wednesday, 16 June 2010 when they started moving services over to the newly built Queen Elizabeth Super Hospital (also in Selly Oak).

Below are a couple of images from each building, a kind of 'best of'...

Out-Patients Department
(To be demolished)

1.

2 & 3.

4 & 5.

6.

- - - - -

Matron's House
(To be demolished)

7.

8.

- - - - -

Diabetes & Dermatology
The original entrance to the workhouse before West Lodge was built.
(To be retained)

9.

10.

- - - - -

West Lodge
The Arc, 1902 entrance built for the King's Norton Union Workhouse
(To be retained)

11.

12.

- - - - -

Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (K Block)
This was the original workhouse, it once contained a kitchen and canteen in the (now sports) hall at the rear.
In 2002 it became the home of the MOD in rehabilitation and treatment of war zone casualties of places such as Afghanistan & Iraq.
(Front view to be retained, hall to be demolished)

13. This front facing view is to be retained

14.

15. Old canteen area of original workhouse (to be demolished), you can just peek one of the roof beams out above

16.

17.

18.

19.

- - - - -

Clinical Care Storage - used to be Critical Care Unit (E Block)
During its workhouse days, K, E & J Block used to be attached to each other using a covered walkway.
(To be demolished)

20.

21.

- - - - -

Micro Biology
(To be demolished)

22.

23.

- - - - -

Medical Engineering
(To be demolished)

24.

25.

- - - - -

Pathology
(To be demolished)

26.

27.

- - - - -

Woodlands Nurses Home
(To be retained)

28.

29.

- - - - -

Doctors Residence
(To be demolished)

30.

31.

- - - - -

Main Building A to D Wing
This was the original workhouse infirmary that was built in 1897.
(The majority of this will be demolished with only the core retained)

Got Epic?

To be fair mate i usually moan at your permission visits but here you really have saved me a job, i just cant get the motivation to get round it all.. Probably too late now anyway! Pitty it wasn't more like the DRI.

28DL Full Member

I also went down, had a look at the fences and general security of the site (in regards to everything being locked) and thought it's better asking than just hoping for a chance. It took about a month to get full approval from the heads of the trust and then the images had to be vetted (but all got through).

I have said it before though, I do this to document sites before demolition, not for the thrill of evading security. I have no qualms about asking for permission, I understand some people do but why wait until it looks like swiss cheese if you can get it in good condition?

It is a crying shame, so many original buildings will be lost, some were even built with funds of the Cadbury's family and these will be demolished. There is ample opportunity for some of these properties to be either sold as one (such as the Doctors Residence or Matron's House) or converted into flats. There is really no need to demolish so much.

Irregular User

I would have loved to have got in here on a non-permission visit but I gave up on getting in this place a while ago as it was sealed tight. Good to see what it looks like inside after months of curiousity, good work dude